Attaching cloth to grille frame? (1 Viewer)

[Dean-P]

What is the best way to do this?
I've thought of using a staple gun along with some glue. First putting the glue down on the back of the frame and then stapling the cloth on and removing the staples when the glue dries.
Anybody else have any ideas?

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

I use 3M spray contact cement.

 

[Brian Bunge]

I guess your alter ego, Frank Hankenberg, works for M3, huh?

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Brian, haven't you got speaker cabinets to build? D wants to know when his oak cabinets will be ready.

You didn't expect me to recommend Acme brand adhesives did you, numnuts???:rolleyes

 

[Dean-P]

Hank
What do you hold it down with until the glue dries? Do you use staples?

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Dean if you have access to a router I'd route a groove on the back side of the grills and then use screen door rubber rope to hold the cloth in place. That's what I did on my last project and it looks really sharp. There's photo's in the DIY are on my website.

 

[Dean-P]

Andrew
I have a router and I did think about your idea before but didn't know what size bit to use. I see you used a 1/8", but what size cord did you use as there are several sizes? Did you just use a 1/8" cord?

 

[Bob Bartlett]

I used a hot glue gun and had no problems, they been on over a year and still holding strong.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Dean-P, I lay it over the frame, hold it a few seconds, then stretch the cloth over to the other side, apply contact cement, pull the cloth around and hold it a few seconds. No staples needed. Experiment with some scrap first.

 

[Dave Milne]

I've tried about every cloth attachment method possible over the years: white glue, contact cement, staples, glue and staples, screen-door-groove, etc.

I'd say I've had the best results with the screen-door-groove method... but the corners still bunch up and don't lay down in the groove very well. I end up using a staple or two on each corner. The nice part about this method is that you can easily pop the few staples out, yank the cord out, and re-do the grille. This has turned out to be a handy feature with two small kids...

 

[Dean-P]

Thanks for the advice people!

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Dean i'm not sure what thickness the cord was i just picked some up from Canadian Tire. I've tried several methods as well and for me I'll be sticking to the screen door method from now on